The United States has signed a five-year health cooperation agreement with Nigeria aimed at strengthening the country’s health system, with a specific focus on supporting Christian faith-based healthcare providers, Washington announced on Saturday.
Under the bilateral agreement, the United States will contribute nearly $2.1 billion to programmes targeting HIV, tuberculosis, malaria and polio, as well as initiatives to improve maternal and child health, a US State Department spokesperson said.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, has committed to increasing its national health spending by almost $3 billion over the same five-year period, according to the spokesperson.
The agreement includes what the State Department described as “a strong emphasis on promoting Christian faith-based health care providers”.
The announcement comes amid heightened attention from Washington to the security situation facing Christian communities in Nigeria.
Last month, President Donald Trump said the United States was prepared to take military action in Nigeria in response to attacks on Christians, comments that drew international attention.
Trump has repeatedly said Christianity faces what he described as an “existential threat” in Nigeria and other countries, framing the issue as part of a broader concern about the global persecution of Christians.
His administration has placed Nigeria back on the US list of countries of “particular concern” over religious freedom and has imposed restrictions on the issuance of visas to Nigerian nationals.
According to the State Department, the health agreement signed on Saturday was negotiated in connection with reforms undertaken by the Nigerian government to prioritise the protection of Christian populations from violence.
Nigeria is roughly divided between a predominantly Christian south and a largely Muslim north.
The federal government in Abuja has consistently said it does not tolerate religious persecution and maintains that insecurity in the country is driven by broader factors rather than religious targeting.
The country has faced a jihadist insurgency since 2009, particularly in the northeast, where violence linked to armed groups has killed at least 40,000 people and displaced around two million others, according to United Nations figures. Both Christians and Muslims have been among the victims of the conflict.
The deal with Nigeria follows a $2.5 billion health assistance agreement signed earlier in December between the United States and Kenya.
That agreement marked the first major bilateral health deal since the Trump administration dismantled the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and reduced the role of non-governmental organisations in American foreign assistance.
Since returning to office, Trump has shut down USAID, previously the world’s largest aid agency, and ordered a comprehensive overhaul of US foreign aid under his “America First” policy, shifting assistance towards bilateral arrangements aligned with US strategic and political priorities.
